Image via CrunchBaseRegular readers of this blog will know that I published a novel, Breaking Faith, some time ago, in paperback, with YouWriteOn. Part of that deal included me retaining the rights to electronic publishing. At the time of initial publication, I was uncertain where epublishing was going, and decided to hold back until things were a little clearer. Well, it is now certain that ebooks are very much part of the publishing scene; a growing part, offering great choice to readers.
The mainline publishers have, almost without exception, chosen to price their ebooks at around the same cost as the paper versions. This strikes me as unwise, unfair and unhelpful to all. The initial costs in setting up a book for paper publication are substantial, although, in the days of POD (print one demand, if you didn’t know) these have been substantially reduced. But the initial costs in transferring such matter to epublishing platforms is significantly less than those of traditional publishing. And the production of an ebook is almost without cost, once the transfer has been done.
As I hold the rights to electronic publishing, I looked at what was on offer from various online publishers. Smashwords seemed the most attractive option for both myself, as writer, and for readers. The company produces ebooks for all the major ereading platforms and has links with most of the major distributors. In fact, there is nothing to stop readers from purchasing direct from Smashwords; it’s as simple as clicking on the book on their website.
Pricing is always an issue. My paperback sells for £7.99 in UK on Amazon.co.uk and is priced at $10.79 on Amazon.com and these seem fair prices for a paper product, with all its associated costs for publisher, printer, warehousing, distribution, retailing etc and produces a small royalty for me as the author. I am a professional writer and I need to make a living from my work, where I can. So I have priced the ebook at $2.99 (this translates to around £1.86 at the time of writing). I hope you’ll think this is a fair price for my labour (Smashwords take a small portion for their business services, of course). If we are to continue to have some sort of reasonable quality in the world of the novel, the creator needs to be paid a reasonable price for the finished product, otherwise writers will go out of business. Those willing to produce work for either nothing or very little are sometimes in the process of making a name of course but, more often than not, they are simply desperate to have their words out there and this naive zeal too frequently results in poor quality work, which floods the market and generally devalues the worthwhile contributions made by others.
So, if you’d like to read Breaking Faith, and you have a PC or a digital reading device, you can now do so by visiting Smashwords. If you don’t have the software to read ebooks on your PC you can get free software by visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/ There is also free software for downloading Kindle books to your PC or Mac .
Just one piece of information for those who buy the ebook: the paperback contains a small amount of explicit erotic content, which I have excluded from the ebook. I’ve done this because a couple of readers were uncomfortable with the sex and I want to give my readers choice. It’s much easier to adapt an ebook than it is a print version, so I opted to make the modifications to the ebook. The story, however, remains the same, as only what happens in the bedroom has been modified.
12 comments:
You've taken out the sex??!!
Just the explicit stuff, not the other references.
Any chance you'll be offering the original version at some point in ebook...perhaps through Amazon? I can buy through SW, but it's a step less to buy the kindle version straight from Amazon. $2.99 is perfectly fair, IMO.
I've gotta say...hearing the explicit content is gone makes me less likely to buy though. Obviously you had it in there for a reason before...
Okay, seems the removal is causing some concern amongst potential readers, so I'll respond to demand here. I was never really happy about the decision and the feedback - not just here, of course - has suggested most would rather the book was as the original. Give me a little time, and I'll include it. I'll announce that here for you all.
Re Amazon - it will be on there eventually, but it's available for the Kindle platform through Smashwords anyway. Is there a barrier with SW for Kindle users?
Thanks for the feedback, Jamie and Linda.
Hi Stuart,
Congratulations on your ebook! The Smashword Kindle version works fine on the Kindle reader. You just have to download it first to your computer and then copy it onto the Kindle reader. It's one additional step. If you have it on Amazon, it goes automatically to your Kindle reader.
One thing to think about: Smashwords can upload your book to Amazon (if you use their Distribution channel) BUT, they take a cut in addition to the cut Amazon gets. If you publish it yourself on Amazon, which is easy (you can upload it in MS Word or, what I did, use the Word feature to save it as an .html file and upload it that way), you get more money.
In addition, if you publish it on Amazon.com, you can get the 70% royalty percentage. I don't know if that works on Amazon.UK.
Some things to think about.
Christa
Thanks for this, Christa - we learn from each other, and that's great.
I'll try the Amazon direct route. Also, I think I might have 2 versions of the ebook - one with and one without the erotic content - any thoughts on that, anyone?
If the erotic content is part of the story and not just there for effect, I would leave it. Believe me, if you have two versions, one with and one without, nobody will buy the one without. LOL! I mean we're not talking about children's books here.
Christa
The erotic content is, for me, an integral part of the story. However, one or two readers told me they didn't like this sort of stuff - they read the book, though.
Readers are as diverse a bunch as writers, so by providing two versions, I might satisfy more of them, even though I feel those who go for the non-erotic version will be missing part of the point of the book.
I've had this, folks mentioning that they "read over" the "sex scenes" in Torc of Moonlight. Sheesh. It's about a fertility goddess. What did they think would be in there? Instructions on how to grow mushrooms??
And by "reading over" they missed the reflection of sex v love, to say nothing of markers in the storyline.
I wouldn't suggest anyone removes the "sex scenes" from their novel just because a couple of readers mutter. If the storyline stands as strong without them, they weren't needed in the first place.
I've bought books I couldn't get on with. They've been dumped, they've been passed on, but I wouldn't dream of asking a writer to re-write it just for me.
As for offering two versions, I think that is asking for complications you can do without.
Well, this has been something of a learning exercise for me. I agree with what you say, Linda. In trying to accommodate the wishes of a very few readers I have compromised the integrity of the book. So, I shall restore the ebook to match the original text and if some don't like it, they can skip or go without. The sex is integral to the story, otherwise I wouldn't have included it in the first place. Thank you all for your input; it has been most useful.
I reckon e-books will eventually oust traditional print books, on grounds of cost and speed of production. Sad for those of us who enjoy a glass of wine and a soggy paperback in the bath.
I think you're being unduly pessimistic, Madeleine. The advent of Radio was supposed to destroy the movies. The advent of the Movie was supposed to destroy the live theatre. And the advent of TV was supposed to destroy almost every other form of entertainment.
I suspect books will be around for a good many decades yet - maybe on artificial paper substitutes, once all the trees have been cut down, but I think you'll continue to be able to curl up or soak with a real book for a long, long time.
Post a Comment